Exposed: Oregon’s Botched Attempt At Government-Run Health Care

Earlier this year, Congressman Jason Chaffetz (R-UT) issued a letter to the disgraced governor of Oregon, John Kitzhaber, demanding any and all communications relating to the state’s troubled ObamaCare Exchange. Unlike other state exchanges that are just losing money, in the case of Cover Oregon there appears to be evidence of a crime and a massive cover-up attempt. Chaffetz’s letter is an effort to preserve the evidence and could be the start of a criminal investigation into the state’s handling of $300 million of taxpayer money.

The story of Cover Oregon reads like a dime-store political novel. Liberal Gov. John Kitzhaber decided to blaze a trail toward government-health care, embracing ObamaCare and requesting hundreds of millions of dollars in federal funds to build his own state exchange.

Liberals were gleaming with hope and praise. Congressman Earl Blumenauer (D-OR) beamed that Oregon has “the governor best equipped to lead us to health care reform.” Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR) pushed for waivers from ObamaCare so Oregon could blaze its own health care trail. A Washington Post profile asked if Kitzhaber’s reforms could “save American health care.” The progressive Center for American Progress invited Kitzbaber and ObamaCare architect Ezekiel (“I hope I die before 75”) Emanuel to speak about the lessons of Oregon’s approach to health care reform.

Cover Oregon would be the envy of the liberal health care world. But things didn’t go as planned. The site was delayed, and Kitzhaber began taking fire from commentators and political observers. He tasked the “Princess of Darkness,” his political advisor Patricia McCaig, to oversee all decisions on the project. Politics took precedent over technology and health care.

Faced with re-election, and being mocked even by liberal late night television hosts, McCaig made the fateful decision to smother Kitzhaber’s baby in the crib. She ordered that Cover Oregon be killed and folded the state health care exchange into the federal ObamaCare exchange. The $300 million spent on the program was just thrown away.

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Whistleblowers then came forward, noting that the website was functional and working. It just needed more time to beta test. Then the inevitable cover-up began. Kitzhaber’s people began to order the destruction of emails and documents pertaining to the exchange. At the same time, they filed suit against the primary contractor on the project, trying to shift the blame for the failure of the program.

Federal and state prosecutors are scouring Oregon for evidence of crimes. It appears they won’t have to look hard. And now that Chaffetz and his staff are involved, a cover-up is unlikely.

Someone must be held responsible for the lost of over a quarter of a billion dollars in taxpayer money. Let’s just hope Chaffetz demands an explanation from the Kitzhaber cohorts. I’ll even bet that the Kitzhaber crew answers fewer questions than Lois Lerner.